This book, while an excellent one, is not heavy on the Civil War experience of Conrad Wise Chapman. For that, I recommend Ten Months in the “Orphan Brigade” : Conrad Wise Chapman’s Civil War Memoir (The Kent State University Press, 1999) also brought to readers by Ben L. Basham. Google Books provides a generous glimpse of Bassham’s introduction and the first few pages of Chapman’s narrative which can be viewed here.

Conrad Wise Chapman returned to America from Europe in 1861 where he joined the Confederate cause. He served in the 3rd Kentucky Regiment and was a part of Albert Sidney Johnston’s ruse in the Western Theater to appear to have more strength in numbers than was the reality. Chapman later served as Ordnance Sergeant in the 59th Virginia Regiment after requesting transfer from “The Orphan Brigade” to a unit in his parent’s home state. It was a transfer that probably saved his life given the casualties suffered by the “The Orphan Brigade.” He participated in the defense of Vicksburg.

See more of Conrad Wise Chapman’s work on “the artists” page under here on Wig-wags. The Museum of the Confederacy has an excellent digital image of Chapman’s “The Flag of Sumter Oct. 20 1863” here. A number of Chapman’s paintings can also be seen at Fine Art-China.com here.

Ben L. Bassham, an Emeritus professor of art history at Kent State University, is the author of The Lithographs of Robert Riggs, The Theatrical Photographs of Napoleon Sarony and editor of Memories of an American Impressionist by Abel G. Warshawsky (The Kent State University Press, 1980). He is also an accomplished artist. I perused his online studio here with great admiration.